Wine Thief Question

[JeffoC6]

I'm looking into getting a wine thief to take hyrdometer samples in. One thing I'm trying to figure out is, don't you have to push the thief down to the bottom of the fermenter to "suck up" a sample? And if so, don't you suck up a bunch of trub?

I'm using 1 gallon glass carboys. The reason I'm looking into a thief is so that I can safely and easily return my samples to the carboy. But won't all of the trub I suck up effect my gravity readings and ultimately cloud up my beer?

Thanks.

 

[bmickey]

A cool trick with the wine thief is to submerge it about 2 inches and shake it up and down quickly and you can fill it right up. Helps depending on the depth of the liquid you have.

 

[barrooze]

I submerge the bottom inch, put my lips on the top portion (like a trumpet) and pull the sample into the wine thief by slowly breathing in through my mouth. Minimizes chance of contamination from the thief (of course I sanitize it first) and gets a nice clean sample from the top of the fermenter.

 

[Lunchtime]

idk how people here feel but I've been told to never return beer back to the fermenter...

 

[bmickey]

I always return it

 

[homebeerbrewer]

I never return the sample to the fermenter. Pulling a sample is a great way to taste it. I dump the sample into a small glass, and drink it.

 

[barrooze]

I take my reading while the sample is in the thief then drain it into a glass to drink the sample. I don't return it to the fermenter because i have a hard time cleaning the inside of the thief.